Tyrant King - A Percy Jackson FanFic

Chapter 26

Thalia stood with Piper and Chiron around the ping pong table. The last two months had been horrible. Percy had taken down the barrier surrounding camp, and monster attacks were frequent. Every week there was at least one announcement. It was like in the Hunger Games when there were mandatory TV screenings! Usually they ended with Jason's rotting body still hanging on the gates of Olympus. Although the last one didn't have that part. The smell must've finally gotten to Percy. 
Thalia hated Percy. He killed her brother, and betrayed the gods. He was worse than Luke. 
But she also understood why he did it, and knew she would do the same if she was in his position. And she hated that about herself. She hated knowing that if she had been named a traitor and suffered Tartarus under Gaea's rule for four years, she would also hate the gods. That was what scared her most.
"We need to retaliate!" Piper was saying. Chiron shook his head, "He's too dangerous."
"So we're just going to let him destroy our world? He's already killed one of us! Who's gonna be next?"
"She's right," Thalia said, "We can't just sit here waiting for him to blast us out of existence."
Chiron frowned, "I won't risk the lives of my campers!"
"That didn't bother you when you sent us to Greece!" Piper protested. Chiron sighed, "That was different! We had a prophecy for that!"
"Fine!" Thalia said, "I'll go get Rachel."

***

Rachel was dragged down to the Big House rec room by Thalia. When she got there, the head counsellors from each cabin sat around the table. Kayla sat in Will's place, and Malcom in Annabeth's. 
"We called a meeting," Piper said. Leo rolled his eyes, "Thank you Captain Obvious."
"Is someone gonna tell us why we're here?" Malcom asked, "It's about Percy, isn't it?"
Chiron nodded, but it was Piper who spoke, "We need to get Percy off the throne."
"Um, are we sure that's a good idea?" Katie Gardner asked, "The last person who challenged him ended up hanging on the gates of Olympus for two months."
"That's why we called this meeting," Thalia said, "To vote."
"All in favor of letting Percy rule and keeping ourselves safe?" Piper asked. Pollux, the head counsellor of the Dionysus cabin, raised his arm, along with Katie Gardner and Lou Ellen Blackstone. 
"All in favor of overthrowing Percy and bringing the gods back?" Piper asked. Thalia's hand shot into the air, quickly followed by Piper and Leo, then Sherman Yang, and slowly the rest of the counsellors who hadn't already voted put their hands in the air. Even Clovis breifly woke to raise his hand. Thalia nodded, "It's decided. We will begin planning to bring Percy back."
Someone laughed in the corner, and they all turned to see Mr. D leaning against the wall. 
"Is something funny?" Leo asked. Dionysus chuckled again, "You'll never be able to do it. Our new king destroyed the gods, sent most of them to Tartarus, and only kept the ones he thought would be useful. The only reason he kept me around was because he didn't want to find a new camp director. He kept Athena as his personal advisor, Hades because otherwise the underworld would go crazy, and Apollo and Artemis because he liked them. All the others were thrown into Tartarus, even Aphrodite, who was on his side."
"Have a little faith," Leo grinned. Dionysus rolled his eyes, "You're all going to die."
"What if we asked the Romans?" Malcom asked, "Would that even out our chances?"
Dionysus shrugged, "If you add the Romans, less of you will die, but Peter Johnson will still win."
"Then what can we do to tip the scale in our favor?" Rachel asked. Mr. D stepped forward, "You need Annie Bell."
Thalia glanced at Chiron, who sighed, "He means Annabeth."
"But she's just one person!" Sherman said, "How can one person do more than a whole army?"
"She's the only person that Percy would never hurt," Chiron explained.
"But she's with him," Katie pointed out. 
"Involuntarily," Mr. D sighed, "She was taken when you idiots attacked him the first time, before Jason was killed."
"He offered to release everyone," Pollux said, "And she stayed."
"I guess we'll just have to hope she's on our side," Piper said. Rachel glanced at Chiron before saying, "Guys, I have something to show you."
Chiron sat up straight, "Where are they?"
He knew exactly what Rachel was talking about. Rachel frowned, "I think they're in my cave."
"Thalia go with Rachel to get the paintings."
The two girls left. They found the paintings of Percy under Rachel's bed. They ran back down to the Big House, lugging the paintings with them. Rachel was glad Thalia didn't ask any questions. It was easier to explain things when everyone was in the same room. When they got back to the Big House, Rachel propped the first painting up on the table. Some people gasped at the image of Ares' whip around Percy's neck. 
"Shortly before Percy was thrown into Tartarus, I had a vision," Rachel explained, "It was different to my prophecies. All I saw were these images. So I painted them to see if I could better understand them. But I wasn't fast enough to stop the gods from taking Percy. This one was when they cornered him in the big house."
Some people were pale. This was the first they had seen of the gods cruelty. And Poseidon standing watch in the background of the painting made it worse. She picked up the second one and put down the first, "This was when Percy was thrown into Tartarus. It's also when he started to trust Kelli."
She switched to the third, "This is when he was made immortal."
She switched to the fourth, "This... well, we all know what this is."
She went to the fifth, "I think this is before he killed Jason. But I'm not sure."
"Is that all?" Piper asked. Rachel shook her head, "I gave the last one to Annabeth. In it Percy was asleep. Or dead. I'm not sure."
Leo frowned, "So we can defeat Percy, but he'll die?"
Rachel shrugged, "Like I said, I don't know."
She got a weird feeling in her head. She clutched it, and Thalia rushed forward, "Rachel?"
"Prophecy," she gasped, then a strange feeling overcame her as the spirit of delphi spoke through her voice:

"The Owl shall come to stop the Sea,
And end his reign of tyranny,
The Tyrant King's wrath shall one withstand,
And save us from his unstable hand,
She'll guide him out from the dark,
And be the one to bring back his spark,
But the price he'll pay shall be steep,
And thus will come his final sleep."

She gasped for air, leaning forward in Thalia's arms. The whole room stared at her, until Piper cleared her voice, "Well, that does tell us a few things."
"What?" Leo asked. Piper glanced around the room before saying, "We now know that we do need Annabeth to stop Percy. And we also know that he will die in the end."